Big 'ole photo mission...

The brief was simple. I needed photos for my book, Josh needed photos for the Big Dog catalogue. What could be simpler than to put one of every boat in a van and go shoot somewhere the water is bubbly and the sun always shines?

Well, Josh arrived at my house in the French Alps with Hazel Wilson, (R&D @ Nookie) and after the obligatory wine and cheese, we took off to a local rapid near Annecy to check out all the new boats and equipment. And remind ourselves how to paddle and use a camera.

The hardest thing for whitewater adventurers is to remember that big action, spray, blood, sweat and tears are not always the best content, and that pretty water and good composition are often far more important. It's also difficult to think about photography and be creative when you are concentrating on your own paddling, logistics like food and shuttle, product placement for sponsors, and team dynamics.

Paddler Hazel Wilson - A slow shutter shot with fill flash to freeze the action.

But once we'd perused the snaps over some more wine and cheese, we concluded that we were good to head out to Val Sesia, a classic destination for all Brits and Euro boaters, renowned for its turquoise waters and granite slides. We had five days to shoot everything from beginner kayaking thru play paddling, technical whitewater to waterfalls. Oh, and squirtboat and lifestyle shots, too. What could possibly go wrong?

Josh Gosling from Big Dog in the Karma squirt boat

A lot of people stopped to ask questions about the Karma so we got Ruth to pretend to be interested for a photo

  

We met up with the Big Dog team at Campertogno, Val Sesia, and set off to shoot some classic white water on the Egua. Bob McKee and Toby Hüther styled it up in the OC1's, running great lines on tight technical rapids and waterfalls alike.

The rest of the team were mostly in Force and DropZone kayaks which performed equally well at delivering stylish moves in hard whitewater and even harder rock. We set up safety cover on a few of the tenser exits but generally this was fun in the sun and playing up for the cameras.

We congratulated ourselves in a restaurant over wine, and cheese...

Frankie at the lip of a big waterfall

Paddler Josh Gosling

Paddler Bill Mattos - overboof and GoPro

 There were a whole lot of boats to test and shoot, so we needed different types of water. Here's Josh in the Flux, which is a crossover boat for intermediate river running and cruisy play paddling.

Val Sesia is not known for its play spots - you wouldn't believe the trouble Josh went thru for this little wave!

Getting some downtime in a whirlpool in the Big Dog Havoc - paddler Bill Mattos

In the end the weather broke, but we managed to get some flat water time in the Storm kayak to shoot some instructing/entry level pics. Thanks to Ruth for pretending it was actually warm enough to dress for the beach ;)

 

After a mission to get across Europe in time for various commitments, and a worrying six hours in Calais (apparently ferry companies don't like rough water as much as we do) I'm now back in the UK.

Next stop, Cornwall for some kayak surfing and SUP action, then back to the French Alps. Check in again soon :)

 

Big changes for me, and at Nookie

Here's the official press release about some big changes concerning me and my former company Nookie.

Bill Mattos, CEO, and co-founder of Nookie with Helen Stewart in 1991, has stepped down after 21 years to pursue his increasingly busy writing, ranting and paddling career. Helen Stewart (design and production manager since the beginning) is being joined by two new directors, Dan Hawes (sales and marketing at Nookie since 2005) and Hazel Wilson (R&D at Nookie since 2006). Though Bill will no longer hold an executive position with the company he remains a shareholder and will continue to work closely with Nookie. Bill is currently developing a number of new projects that will feature in the Nookie brand in a big way.  The team at the UK based company are all very fired up about the future at Nookie and looking forward to some exciting times ahead.

Helen, Dan and Hazel with multiple decades of combined experience will continue to take the company forward with a host of interesting new projects and products in the pipeline.

Hazel Wilson, product testing.

 

Well, it looks as though the snow is melting all over Europe, but particularly in my neck of the woods. So I started to think about Lyon and Hawaii sur Rhone which is just a short drive from here, and here is Nookie Team Rider Leo Carpene's take on the big wave from a couple of seasons ago :)

So you may be aware that I'm working on an all-new book project, which I'm super-excited about. I've been writing short sections in fits and starts for a while, in and around doing Nookie stuff and other work, but sooner or later it has to get properly organised. So today has been page plan day. I haven't actually done that before - on previous book jobs I've written about all the different things I wanted to and someone else has organised them into some semblance of order, left out a bunch of stuff that they didn't like, and told me what was missing that I still needed to write. But since this time I am supposed to plan it myself, I've got a big spreadsheet which I am colour coding in the kind of artful procrastination to which only writers and students can truly relate. Yes, I can even procrastinate over the planning stage. I've washed the car, taken out the trash, called my mother, and drunk my body weight in tea... but finally, the page plan is complete.

It's with some trepidation that I've started to drop my draft pages, and more importantly word-counts, into the spreadsheet, but it seems to be making sense, so far. I'm roughly on schedule. Well, I have a sporting chance of ending up with the right number of words, pages, and pictures, at least. Now it's down to me to make sure that they're awesome. Or, start thinking about designing some sort of timetable for making them awesome, anyway...

Toy time...

I haven't been excited about a kayak for a long time. But this one's pretty, different, and it's been playing hard to get for a long time. I first heard about the Loki project quite a while back, as my friend Daz Clarkson had paddled a prototype and pronounced it to be the boat that he (and I) should be reliving our youth(s) in...

Despite the rave reviews the testers were returning, the boys and girls at Pyranha are perfectionists, and the boat kept being put on hold until all the kinks were ironed out. But now it's done, and I have a blind date with it at the weekend. And I can't wait.

First impressions is that it's faithful to the brief, to create a boat that rekindles the fun we used to have in slightly longer, slicier boats in decades past. From a glimpse of video I saw, it seems loose on a wave and retentive in a hole, and the tail sinks and pivots beautifully. My only reservation is that the front end seems a bit more voluminous than my beloved Prozone (which went off without me in the end, because I was trying to be clever), but that's probably a good thing, because my legs/feet are a bit creaky these days. And I've always had a pretty strong smash anyways.

So, I am about to jump on a plane to a place where the water isn't mostly frozen, and see what kind of mischief we can get up to together. I'll let you know ;)

 Big thanks for this five-star review at Barnes & Noble

 

August 09, 2011

The only book on kayak surfing worth reading.

i first got my hands on this book as a review copy from playak. it is without a doubt the most comprehensive information source on kayak surfing. not only that, but it is written in an engaging and characterful way which makes it a pleasure to read, not just a dry source of information. if you are in any way involved with surf kayaking, or you want to be, this book provides the information needed to really boost your kayak surfing.

Hooray!

A diamond in the rough...

Excuse the shonky iPhone photos...

This is the Borne, in the Haute Savoie...

I've never paid it a lot of attention before...

Even though I've driven along my local stream a hundred times or more. It's a ditch with a lot of (small) rocks in it. When it rains les chats et chiens it's a ditch with a lot of 20-30cm waves in it. Haven't been moved to get on even once, for the three years I've been moseying past. And then today, I was on my way home from GVA and caught a glimpse. Is this a drop I see before me? So I parked and hiked (like 20m) and lo - there's a kilometre of cool continuous that I never saw from the road. Not killer hard, but good enough to think, hmm... that would be a sweet move! could I punch that hole? if someone swam in that death-eddy could I get them out? And all this after only two days of moderate rain. Very nice...
I'm tempted. I'm not gonna lie :)